Mitt Romney immigration stance to soften to woo Latino voters

April 19, 2012 | Filed under: world | Posted by:

Mitt Romney’s immigration stance is set to soften as a last ditch effort to woo Latino voters says Syed Ubaidur Rahman of NVONews.Com

Worried over overwhelming Hispanic support for Barack Husain Obama––ironically outside the US too––the Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has decided to go slow on his policy towards illegal immigration. The Repulicans who, till the other day, were critical of Democrats have suddenly realized the political significance of this fast-growing population.

The softening of stand has more to do with politics than economics or anything else as the latest Pew Research Centre poll suggests that Obama leads over Romney among Hispanic voters by 40 points.

The problem with the Grand Old Party (GOP) is that the population of Spanish-speaking migrants from Latin America has been constantly increasing even in the States considered as the Republican stronghold.

While the Republicans were still pondering over the policy on illegal immigration the Democrats on Wednesday launched Spanish language advertisements in the states like Colorado. Obama has already started his campaign in some of these states.

This awakened Romney, who according to some media reports, told donors that the Republicans have to get Hispanic votes for the party. He reportedly told them that Latinos’ overwhelming support for Democrats and Obama ”spells doom for us.”

Though it is still not clear as to how Romney would tackle this new challenge yet it appears that he is planning to distance himself from Kris Kobach, a Yale-trained lawyer and Kansas State politician, who drafted most of the recent state and local laws that crack down on illegal immigration.

Only a few months ago, Governor Romney, through a written Press statement, openly boasted that he was happy to have Kobach “on the team,” thus making it clear his plan to fight illegal immigration.

But that seems to be ancient history. Now a spokesperson for Romney told a section of media on Tuesday that he is a supporter, not an adviser. However, Kobach was quoted in National Journal on the same day as saying that his role has not changed and he is still an informal adviser. He blamed Democrats for propagating that his job had been modified.

Whatever be the truth some Hispanic voters believe that he had been made a scapegoat.

The most interesting comment on the issue was made by the Miami-based Republican strategist, Ana Navarro. She was quoted in the Yahoo News as telling Romney: “I think he better bury [Kobach] deep underground between now and November…I’d tell him to get a one-way ticket to Finland for the next six months.”

Romney, it is leant, may embrace a Republican version of the Dream Act, which would legalize some immigrant young people, who were brought to the country as children. Senator Marco Rubio, the likely Vice Presidential candidate for Romney, has been working on a version of the Dream Act that would legalize but not give citizenship to some young people, who grew up in the United States.

Romney also said Republicans should criticize Obama for falsely promising Latinos that he would pass immigration reform in his first year in his second term.

True, Latino voters come from different countries and are not homogenous; they are not single-issue group and polls show that on aggregate, they care most about the economy and jobs, with immigration issues trailing behind. Yet Republican strategists emphasize that a hostile-sounding tone on immigration issues alienates many Hispanic voters, no matter the candidate’s economic platform.

But the non-White Obama is still more popular among Latinos outside the country too, even though they strongly suspect the hegemonic design of the United States. This was evident during his recent visit to Columbia, the fifth to the region, where he went to attend the Summit of Americas.

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Posted by on April 19, 2012. Filed under world. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
  • Dave Francis

    Yesterday there was a hearing on the E-Verify system of exposing illegal aliens seeking work. By now most American citizens and greencard holders know they must identify themselves for a job, by the requirement of adding person information to a form I-9, that being authenticated after being hired. Both Parties and the Liberals have downplayed this valuable tool as illegal alien employment is a very profitable enterprise for the business community, and as its seen today a massive majority population who may be future voters for the Democrats and also a deliberate illegal action throughout this sovereign land to let non citizens vote. Two laws have the potential to stop the illegal invasion, which is by the Congress just enacting E-Verify (H.R. 2885) – Chairman Lamar Smith’s ‘Legal Workforce Act’ and the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011 (H.R.140).

    One amendment and one law have the potential to start a nationwide self removal of foreign nationals. E-Verify which is being upgraded continuously will eventually make it impossible for people who settle here from across our sieve-like border or who overstay visas from other countries, to find work. Under Texas House Representative Smith Mandatory law, businesses who intentionally hire illegal aliens will be heavily sanctioned and could go to prison. Call your federal and state lawmaker and demand these laws today and our right to control our borders and say no, to any clandestine move towards any form of AMNESTY.

    TELL MITT ROMNEY TO–PRACTICE WHAT HE PREACHES–AND ENFORCE THE LAWS OF THE 1986 SIMPSON/ MAZZOLI BILL. EVERY AMERICAN WHO ARRIVED HERE LEGALLY NEEDS TO JOIN THE MONOLITHIC GROWING MEMBERSHIP OF THE PEOPL’ES PARTY, THE CONSTITUTIONAL TEA PARTY.

    See how this law affects your workplace and how illegal aliens are stealing new born babies Social Security card to get jobs and that can be used to get credit. Everybody SSN is in jeopardy as criminal aliens and our own dishonest citizens are some unknown babies SS number to gain access to collect Tax rebates in the child’s name. It could be years before the obnoxious theft will be revealed, then the parents will spend even more time explaining the situation to banks, the Social Security administration, police and other official agencies.

    Statement of the Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement Hearing on Document fraud in Employment Authorization: How E-Verify Requirement Can Help?

    Chairman Smith: The Immigration and Nationality Act prohibits the hiring of individuals who are not authorized to work in the United States. And it requires employers to check the immigration status of an employee and make sure that the identification document submitted by the employee “reasonably appears on its face to be genuine.”

    That requirement was put in place by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). Unfortunately the underground market for fraudulent identification documents grew extensively after the enactment of this bill.

    Fake documents, which can be obtained cheaply and are produced by the millions, have made a mockery of these identification requirements.

    Dishonest employees simply hand employers fake documents that “reasonably appear to be genuine,” and an honest employer has no recourse other than to accept them. And many dishonest employers actually welcome employees who submit counterfeit identification documents so they can pay lower wages or otherwise exploit illegal immigrant employees. Sometimes these dishonest employers themselves actually obtain the documents for the illegal workers.

    In response, Senator Alan Simpson and I drafted the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, which contains a pilot program to provide employers with an accurate and easy way to determine employment eligibility.

    The Basic Pilot Program, now known as E-Verify, is run by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), in conjunction with the Social Security Administration (SSA).

    Through E-Verify, the Social Security numbers and alien identification numbers of new hires are checked against SSA and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) databases in order to help employers determine who is eligible to work in the U.S. As this Subcommittee has heard in testimony many times, E-Verify is free, quick and easy to use.

    E-Verify can be vulnerable to identity theft. If an employee provides an employer with a stolen Social Security Number and matching identity information, E-Verify will determine that the Social Security number is one that is work-eligible.

    USCIS has taken steps to help close the ID theft loophole. For instance, they have incorporated the photo matching tool. This allows an employer to view a picture of the employee–from a greencard, an employment authorization document or a passport–to determine that the employee is in fact the person to whom that Social Security number or alien identification number was issued.

    And H.R. 2885, the “Legal Workforce Act,” a bipartisan bill that was approved by the Judiciary Committee last September, gives USCIS and SSA additional tools to help recognize and prevent identity theft.

    For instance, the bill requires DHS to allow individuals to “lock” their own Social Security number so that it cannot be used by imposters to verify work eligibility.

    It also requires USCIS to “lock” a Social Security Number that shows a pattern of unusual multiple uses. And it imposes significant criminal penalties on employers and employees who engage in or aid identity theft.

    In addition, H.R. 2885 requires individuals who have likely been victims of identity theft for work authorization purposes to be notified of that likelihood so they can then take steps to prevent further illegal use of their identity.

    As long as the IRCA standard — whether identification document “reasonably appears on its face to be genuine,” — is the only requirement for employers, illegal immigrants will be able to easily cheat the system and get U.S. jobs.

    With today’s technology, it makes no sense to use a paper-based error-prone system when a successful web-based option is available. It’s time to bring our I-9 system into the 21st century.
    American jobs and identities could easily be protected by simply requiring all employers to use E-Verify and by improving E-Verify to help close the identity theft loophole.

    Thank you Mr. Chairman and I yield back the balance of my time.

    Fortunately the citizen voter can do something about it by calling their Senator or House Representative in Congress and demand change. This America is the land of opportunity, but only if you come here with permission and a work visa. For farmers and agricultural communities, there must be a well regulated system of arrival and departure, not the mess provided now. In furtherance special visas should be expedited for top professionals in Science, Engineering and a whole range of high technology, given us the brain power for a futuristic U.S. But under Obama his potential next term will see an open border and easy access to America for even more immigrants, further complicating our strained energy policies, straining even further our health care system and welfare programs, overwhelmed public schools and the loss of open lands for housing developments.